#GE2017: A Last Minute Plea to those Planning on Voting Tory

Dear Fellow Citizen, if you are planning on voting Tory on Thursday, can I please ask you to allow yourself a few minutes to read these words?

I’ve seen so much on social media over the last few days that my head feels like it’s going to explode. I’m sure it’s the same for you. Trouble is, the left and right aren’t really into talking to each other are they? We all know which side we stand on, and our right to vote is ours isn’t it? It’s sacred, it’s personal, it’s no-one else’s business but ours is it?

Perhaps the most annoying thing about this election is that it’s been turned into some farcical reality TV show. Just like the recent US election, and look how that’s panned out.

We are once again a divided nation, exactly as we were last time we went to the polls almost a year ago.

Perhaps swaying towards the left completely depends on how much you’ve been directly affected by the cuts?

My own life has been turned upside by them you see. My autistic daughter received precisely zero help or support in her mainstream state school. Eighteen months ago we made the super difficult decision to home educate her, because we were not prepared to let her drown. Deja vu started occurring after sending our second daughter to school last year, and after agonising over it for months, we’ve decided to home educate her too. Our 3yo son will not be going to pre-school.

Would we be a home educating family if we lived in a better funded part of the country? Almost certainly not. I have friends who live in nice suburban areas whose kid’s go to school with children on the spectrum, and they have a full time teaching assistant all to themselves. I also know of a lot of other kids with additional needs who are getting nothing. Unsurprisingly they live in more deprived parts of the country, and they are most likely being scarred for life by having to endure what they go through at school.

It’s certainly not been an easy journey for me, but fortunately my husband earns enough for our family to function without me having to work. Thank goodness, because I honestly don’t know what we’d do otherwise.

I understand why people aren’t head over heels about Corbyn, but is that honestly a justification for voting Tory?

What makes me saddest, is that the people on my social feeds who are pro May and anti Corbyn are not speaking sense. They aren’t being factually correct, they’re simply parroting nonsense quoted straight from right wing mainstream media.

The lefties in my life genuinely want to understand the reasons behind why anyone outside the top 5% would support the Tories. In stark contrast the right are spouting rhetoric and slogans that prove how brainwashed they’ve been, and how little empathy they have for how so many in this country are being forced to live.

One of the biggest lies being peddled is that Labour would be squeezing more tax from the hard working middle. This is simply not true. Take a look at the official calculator for all the details, but here is a snapshot from it. If you earn up to £80,000 per year nothing would change. If you earn over £80,000 per year you would start paying a tiny bit more tax (less than £1 per week).

The national average salary here in the UK is £27,600. How can anyone argue with making those earning over two and a half times the national average salary (and much more!) pay a little bit extra so that public services can be properly funded?

Times have changed

I was raised by a single parent who lived on benefits. It’s not an exaggeration to say that we walked the poverty line. I left home when I was 15, education-less with just £50 in my pocket, yet still managed to make a success of my life. I had a great career in the big city, and I’ve travelled the world.

But that was a different era. Social mobility was still a viable option back then, nowadays you’ve got no chance if you’ve had a start to life like the one I had. You’re in the gutter from the off, and that’s where you’ll stay.

Growing up in a family that mostly didn’t work, I couldn’t wait to leave home and start doing things differently. For many years I had the opinion that all people on benefits were scroungers, and lazy, but I now see that it’s not as black and white as that. You can call me a bleeding heart liberal if you like, I don’t mind.

I can totally see that Corbyn isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but surely he’s better than the alternative?

Do you really want to vote for further austerity?

For deeper cuts to education?

For a privatised NHS?

For nurses and teachers quitting in droves?

For not enough police to counter terrorism?

The three recent attacks in the UK happened because Theresa May axed thousands of police. The victims blood is clearly on her hands, yet she doesn’t seem to think that she’s at all responsible.

In the past it’s been fair to say that all politicians are the same, but this election is different. There’s so much more riding on it. Just take a look at the manifestos (click here for TORY) (click here for LABOUR). The facts speak for themselves.

You don’t have to be a Corbyn lover to vote Labour.

If you have a conscience though, and consider yourself a decent human being, then I urge you to think twice before voting Tory on Thursday.

Here’s a website with details of how you can vote tactically to keep the Tories out.